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Ablation Rates of Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, Version 1

This data set provides glacier surface ablation rates for a network of approximately 250 sites on Taylor Glacier, spanning a period from 2003 to 2011. Here sublimation is the dominant ablation mechanism, though a few sites have accumulation. Ablation data are provided in meters water equivalent per year.

Parameter Description

This data set provides glacier surface ablation rate for Taylor Glacier in Antarctica, in meters water equivalent per year. Table 2 below lists the columns in the text files.

Table 2. Parameter Description

Column Number

Parameter

1

Ablation Pole Name

2

Latitude

3

Longitude

4

Northing UTM57C (m)

5

Easting UTM57C (m)

6

Elevation

7

Start Year

8

Start Month

9

Start Day

10

End Year

11

End Month

12

End Day

13

Ablation Rate (m w.e./yr) with ablation taken as positive, and accumulation as negative, assuming an ice density of 0.9 kg/m3

Sample Data Record

The data below are the first 3 data samples in the TaylorAblationData03_04.txt file.

AV1

-77.82212747

161.075753

1360365

548873.9

997.15

2002

12

7

2004

1

4

0.300683

AV2

-77.82090784

161.0431627

1360528

548111.6

995.17

2002

12

7

2004

1

4

0.24462

AV3

-77.81937786

161.0366401

1360704

547964

993.69

2002

12

7

2004

1

4

0.224399

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Software and Tools

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Data Acquisition and Processing

Sensor or Instrument Description

Aluminum conduit measurement pole

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Data Acquisition Methods

Data were acquired using the traditional pole-height measurement technique. Aluminum conduit poles were initially emplaced 2 meters into the ice. Ablation rate is the difference between initial exposure and exposure approximately one year later, divided by the time interval between measurements. Initial measurements were in December 2002 and January 2003, and then again periodically between 2003 and 2011.